Winter Girl
by Ruko-Sempai
Summary: She isn't dead, but she isn't alive either. She's a Winter Girl...


Chapter 1: Winter Girl

Tifa was washing the bar when it happened.

It had been a normal, slow summer day; the temperature outside was almost niney-two degrees, and no one had come in for a drink for two hours. Cloud was off on his deliveries, Marlene and Denzel were with Barret for the day, Cid was with Red in Juno, and Cait Sith was wih Reeve for repair. However, Tifa wasn't lonely. Yuffie was in town, so she stopped by, dragging Vincent with her.

"Uggg, it's soooo hot!" Yuffie whined, fanning herself with one of the menus. She was wearing a tank top and short shorts. The young ninja turned to Vincent, who was leaning quietly against the wall. "Aren't you hot in that?" She asked in disbelief. Vincent shrugged; he didn't really feel any different, so he had just worn what he usually wore. Tifa smiled at the two. Yuffie was right; it was hot. Tifa had to take off her black vest just to avoid heat stroke.

Suddenly the door slammed opened.

All three looked up in surprise and alarm.

A girl with dark red hair sumbled in, holding her head in her hands. What caught Vincent's eye, though, was what she was wearing; a white medical gown stained with blood. Tifa saw this too, and frowned, "Exscuse me, do you need help?" The girl looked up, eyes frightened. "S-she won't stop talking!" Tifa glanced at Vincent and Yuffie before walking out from behind the bar. "Who? Is there anything we can do to help?" Tifa asked gently. It was obvious there was something wrong with this girl. "D-don't come n-near!" The girl exclaimed, taking a few steps back. She cringed and began clawing at her head, stumbling, "Stop it! Get out, get out of me!" Tifa took a few steps forward, as well as Yuffie.

The girl suddenly screamed, clutching her head, and collasped on the floor, making Tifa and Yuffie run over to her. "Hey!" Yuffie yelped as she sat down on her knees. Moving the girl's head onto her lap, she said, "Wake up!" The girl didn't respond, her brown eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling fan. Tifa bent down and reached over, checking her pulse. She quickly pulled her head back and looked at Yuffie before looking at Vincent, "I can't feel her pulse..."

Five minutes later, Yuffie cried out in surprise as the girl suddenly sucked in a large gulp off air. The three watched in shock as what looked like white frost spread over the brown of her eyes, turning them white-ish blue.

Something was not right. A familiar chill ran up Vincent's spine, making all of the alarms in his head go off.

In a flash, he pushed Yuffie towards Tifa and aimed Ceberus at the girl. The frost began to spread, covering the bottom area of her left eye. Frost covered the side of her neck as well. Tifa held a shocked Yuffie in her arms; glancing up at Vincent, she asked, "Vincent, what's going on?" Vincent didn't anwser, watching the girl intently. She was panting, her breath misting, even though the room was far from being cold. Her eyes where watching the cieling fan. Finally, her eyes flickered over to looked at Vincent.

Silence.

Vincent kept his gun pointed at her; she stayed on her back on the floor. The two stared at each other before Vincent spoke. "Who are you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Airi. My name is Airi." Airi blinked, tears forming, "W-where am I...?"

Vincent ignored her question. "Tell me where you're from." Airi sat up slowly. As she did, Tifa tightened her grip on Yuffie, ready to run upstairs if needed. Airi glanced at them before staring at Vincent. "I..." She winced, rubbing her head, "...I can't remember..." Airi looked around, as if seeing the bar for the first time. "How did I get here?" Vincent lowered Ceberus, bent down, and grabbed Airi's arm, lifing her to her feet. He could feel the sub-zero tempurature of her skin seep into his hand, trying to fight him off, but he ignored it and quickly walked to the stairs, dragging the girl behind him. "H-hey! Let go!" Airi exclaimed, struggling to get out of his grip. Vincent ignored her cries, opened the door to one of the guest rooms, and shoved her in.

* * *

Airi yelped as she landed face first in the room. The door closed behind her, and she could hear the click of the lock. She stood and wrapped her arms around herself.

She could see everything so clearly; the cracks in the walls, the dust in the room, everything. Every detail, every color was incredibly vivid. She also felt energized, like she had just woken up from a good night's sleep. Every breath she took made her feel refreshened and clean. Her hearing was improved as well. She could hear the clicking of the clock on the wall, the creak of the floor boards under her barefeet.

And that man...she felt a strange vibe come from him; something uneven and edgey. But when she had looked at the woman with long brown hair and the girl, she felt the same scared vibe from both of them. Airi couldn't figure out why, though. She couldn't remember how she got there or why she was lying on the floor. As soon as she had opened her eyes, she'd been so captivated by the fan above her that she hadn't realized that man was standing over her until she heard him breathing. When she saw him, though, she couldn't take her eyes off of his strange red eyes.

* * *

Tifa was trying to calm Yuffie down.

"Yuffie-"

"She came back to life!"

"I know-"

"W-what the hell _is _she?!"

Vincent walked down the stairs, "She isn't human anymore." Tifa turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, and why did she come back to life?!" Yuffie asked.

Vincent sat down at the bar. "Before she died, that girl was talking about something inside of her that wouldn't stop talking and was dead for five minutes before she started breathing again. That, and she is wearing a medical gown; she's most likely been experimented on." Tifa frowned, "Then the thing inside of her...you don't think it could be a...?"

Vincent nodded gravely. "Yes. There's some kind of demon inside of that girl. It seems that she was fighting it for the first time when she stumbled in here. She had to die in order for it to fully take over." Yuffie took a shaky breath. Tifa looked at her, "Are you okay?"

Yuffie nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just...I've never seen someone be possesed by a demon before." She couldn't help but shiver; it felt as if the temperature in the bar had dropped several degrees. "She will have to stay in that room until I find out who is to blame for this." Vincent explained. Tifa nodded and pulled out her cell phone, "I'll call Cloud; maybe he can help."

As Tifa dialled Cloud's number, Yuffie couldn't help but look at the hall way that led upstairs. She shivered again; she just couldn't get the image of the girl's eyes turning white out of her head.


End file.
